you to suspect that she was mad? " suggested
Mr. Frankland.

Rosamond hesitated. "Things that are
great in one's own mind," she said, " seem to
get so little when they are put into words.
I almost despair of making you understand
what good reason I had to be frightened — and
then, I am afraid, in trying to do justice to
myself, that I may not do justice to the nurse."

"Tell your own story, my love, in your
own way, and you will be sure to tell it
properly," said Mr. Frankland.

"And pray remember," added Mr. Orridge,
"that I attach no real importance to my opinion
of Mrs. Jazeph. I have not had time enough
to form it. Your opportunities of observing
her, have been far more numerous than mine."

Thus encouraged, Rosamond plainly and
simply related all that had happened in her
room on the previous evening, up to the time
when she had closed her eyes, and had heard
the nurse approaching her bedside. Before
repeating the extraordinary words that Mrs.
Jazeph had whispered into her ear, she made
a pause, and looked earnestly in her
husband's face.

"Why do you stop?" asked Mr. Frankland.

"I feel nervous and flurried still, Lenny,
when I think of the words the nurse said to
me, just before I rang the bell."

"What did she say? Was it something
you would rather not repeat ? "

"No! no! I am most anxious to repeat
it, and to hear what you think it means. As
I have just told you, Lenny, we had been talking
of Porthgenna, and of my project of
exploring the north rooms, as soon as I got there;
and she had been asking many questions
about the old house; appearing, I must say,
to be unaccountably interested in it,
considering she was a stranger."

"Yes?"

"Well, when she came to the bedside, she
knelt down close at my ear, and whispered all
on a sudden: — ' When you go to Porthgenna,
keep out of the Myrtle Room! '"

Mr. Frankland started. " Is there such a
room at Porthgenna ? " he asked, eagerly.

"I never heard of it," said Rosamond.

"Are you sure of that? " inquired Mr.
Orridge. Up to this moment the doctor had
privately suspected that Mrs. Frankland must
have fallen asleep soon after he left her the
evening before; and that the narrative which
she was now relating, with the sincerest
conviction of its reality, was actually derived from
nothing but a series of vivid impressions
produced by a dream.

"I am certain I never heard of such a
room," said Rosamond. " I left Porthgenna
at five years old; and I had never heard of
it then. My father often talked of the house
in after years; but I am certain that he never
spoke of any of the rooms by any particular
names; and I can say the same of your father,
Lenny, whenever I was in his company after
he had bought the place. Besides, don't you
remember, when the builder we sent down
to survey the house wrote you that letter, he
complained that there were no names of the
rooms on the different keys, to guide him in
opening the doors, and that he could get no
information from anybody at Porthgenna on
the subject. How could I ever have heard of the
Myrtle Room ? Who was there to tell me ? "

Mr. Orridge began to look perplexed: it
seemed by no means so certain that Mrs.
Frankland had been dreaming, after all.

"I have thought of nothing else," said
Rosamond to her husband, in low, whispering
tones. " I can't get those mysterious words off
my mind. Feel my heart, Lenny — it is beating
quicker than usual, only with saying them over
to you. They are such very strange, startling
words. What do you think they mean ? "

"Who is the woman who spoke them?
—that is the most important question," said
Mr. Frankland.

"But why did she say the words to me?
That is what I want to know — that is what
I must know, if I am ever to feel easy in.
my mind again!"

"Gently, Mrs. Frankland, gently! " said
Mr. Orridge. " For your child's sake, as
well as for your own, pray try to be calm,
and to look at this very mysterious event as
composedly as you can. If any exertions of
mine can throw light upon this strange
woman and her still stranger conduct, I will
not spare them. I am going to-day to her
mistress's house, to see one of the children;
and, depend upon it, I will manage in some
way to make Mrs. Jazeph explain herself.
Her mistress shall hear every word that you
have told me; and, I can assure you, she is
just the sort of downright, resolute woman
who will insist on having the whole mystery
instantly cleared up."

Rosamond's weary eyes brightened at the
doctor's proposal. " O, go at once, Mr.
Orridge! " she exclaimed, " Go at once!"

"I have a great deal of medical work to
do in the town first," said the doctor, smiling
at Mrs. Frankland's impatience.

"Begin it then, without losing another
instant," said Rosamond. "The baby is
quite well, and I am quite well — we need not
detain you a moment. And, Mr. Orridge,
pray be as gentle and considerate as possible
with the poor woman; and tell her that I
never should have thought of sending her
away, if I had not been too frightened to
know what I was about. And say how sorry
I am, this morning, and say — "

"My dear, if Mrs. Jazeph is really not in
her right senses, what would be the use of
overwhelming her with all these excuses ? "
interposed Mr. Frankland. " It will be more
to the purpose if Mr. Orridge will kindly
explain and apologise for us to her mistress."

"Go! Don't stop to talk — pray go at
once! " cried Rosamond, as the doctor
attempted to reply to Mr. Frankland.

"Don't be afraid; no time shall be lost,"